In The Name Of Science
by Naminedeservesacloak
Summary: This is my two year anniversary fic for my Stein. I hate the title...so if you suggest a better one I'll change it. If you want me to continue it, say so and I'll post the other random chapters...this may turn into a random collection of long-ish oneshots


**In The Name Of Science**

Inspired by Meteor Shower by Owl City

*clears throat and starts to sing*

_I can finally see_

_That you're right there beside me_

_I am not my own_

_For I have been made new_

_Please don't let me go_

_I desperately need you_

: )

Ignoring the tingling in my shoulder from where he had touched me in the Death Room, I sighed and kept walking along. My first love indeed! Bah. Azusa really needed to learn to keep her mouth shut sometimes. I had learned long ago that that train of thought was best left alone, and I wished she would leave it alone too. Besides, being near him was enough, even if it was just as friends.

Where was he anyway? Of course, the minute I need to ask him something he disappears, but when I'm trying to ignore him he's always right there. Letting out a groan that meant something along the lines of "fuck this", I sank onto the nearest bench wearily.

A few feet away a couple of kids were lightly arguing over a...basketball? Oh, they must be setting up teams. Duh. Mentally kicking myself, I studied them a bit closer. Maybe they were students from the Academy...

"Hi Marie", said Stein, bench squeaking as he sat down next to me. Oh, that's right, how could I have forgotten? Rule number one for finding Stein: Don't look for him. Like most creepers, he finds you and not the other way around.

"Hi yourself." Content with just existing as friends like we always had, I sat there and watched the game with him. I knew it was hopeless, but I couldn't help but hope that he had changed since I left for Oceania. I knew my curiosity wouldn't be satisfied until I found out, so I decided to give him a little mental poke. Mind made up, I called upon all my powers of tact and summoned up a few tears and my puppy dog eyes of doom.

"This is absolutely hopeless! How am I supposed to find a husband in a place that's full of kids? It's impossible!" Okay, so my mighty powers of tact left much to be desired but hey, you have to admit they got the job done.I waited patiently for a few seconds, hoping against hope that...

"Hey! Nice shooting Kid!" Nope. Still the same old Stein. Oh well. As long as I was next to him I was happy. Maybe he could even tell me a bit about my new students. I leaned forward.

"Are they students from the DWMA?" He glanced at me and nodded.

"Yes, and they're your students starting tomorrow." Oh great. Just looking at the blue-haired one gave me a headache. The girls looked nice at least. I would probably have no trouble from them and Lord Death's son seemed very rule-oriented...what was his name again? Oh yeah, he was Death The Kid. A flash of red eyes out of the corner of my eye snagged my attention and I openly stared at the last boy.

With his shark-like teeth and blood-red eyes, I was almost sure he was a weapon. The stronger the weapon blood in a person the more his human form resembled his weapon form. Truly strange appearances are rare in meisters. Although there are exceptions to every rule, namely Stein in this case, this one was true more often than not.

Fighting back a jet lag induced yawn, I stretched my arms above my head and smiled when I felt my back pop. "O...kay, I don't have a boyfriend right now anyway, I guess I might as well do some work. Oh yeah, I forgot! Everything's happened so quickly, I'll need to stay at your place until I find an apartment in town." Leave it to me to forget something as important as where I was going to sleep tonight! I had written it on my hand in black ink and everything! Stein glanced at me and smiled, briefly looking me over.

"That's fine, but don't blame me if you wind up dismembered", he deadpanned. I chuckled a bit and inwardly filed his smiling face away in my memory for later daydreams.

"I have complete faith in you." He abruptly turned back to the game, but not before I saw something flit across his face. Something that looked an awful lot like happiness. Huh? But I thought he...

"Look, the blond girl with the baseball cap on is Spirit's little daughter. Her weapon is that white-haired boy, Soul Eater Evans, and they will be in your first period class tomorrow." Wrinkling my nose at the obvious attempt to change the subject, I sighed and decided to play along.

"I figured he was a weapon, he looked too odd not to be. The blue-haired one is a student of mine as well, isn't he?", I asked, hoping that maybe he was from another class. Stein nodded and I groaned. Great, just great. Brooding on my shoddy luck, I briefly closed my eyes. Maybe he wouldn't be that bad in class. Hopefully his weapon would keep him in line a little bit, right?

"Hey", said Stein, greeting his weapon. I looked up, a bit startled to see Spirit standing right behind us.

"Oh, I didn't see you there Spirit" Trying to avoid hurting his feelings, I nodded and smiled in his direction. he nodded back and straightened up. We stared at the basketball game for a few moments.

"What are they doing here? Didn't we tell them to stay at home so they could heal?", he muttered. Stein shrugged and leaned back.

"I'm always amazed by how carefree kids can be." Sensing an impending argument, I toned them out and leaned forward to focus more on the game. Leave it to Stein and Spirit to overanalyze a simple game of basketball between friends. Why couldn't they ever just relax and have fun like normal people? Oh well, if they did act like most people I probably wouldn't like them as much anyway.

The basketball game finally ended, Soul's team winning by quite a lot. His meister, Maka, nervously walked up to Spirit after much prodding on her weapon's behalf. She looked upset and a bit nauseous. Noticing how sick she looked, Spirit immediately stopped talking and stared at her, his concern for her showing all over his face.

"Hey, what's going on Maka?", he asked warily. She stopped twisting her fingers together and sighed.

"Um...well, Dad...w-want to hang out this Saturday?", she forced out. For a split second Spirit just stared at her like she'd grown a second head right before his eyes. Then all hell broke loose.

"I never thought this day would come! To think I almost got sent away today! I-I thought Maka was looking for normalcy!", he shouted, dropping his jacket on the pavement. Flopping forward, he paled and suddenly threw up. Jumping up, I moved to help him but Maka beat me to it.

"Papa! Are you okay?" Spirit smiled weakly and stared up at her.

"Sorry! I was just so happy!" Maka rubbed his back gently and frowned.

"Hang on! I'll go get some stomach medicine!" She patted his back one more time and sprinted away from the basketball court. Spirit tried to grab her but she was too fast.

"No, that's okay! I'm fine!", he shouted after her. Stein chuckled and leaned back on the bench.

"Happy puking. I guess that's just one more thing I don't understand." Bright blue sky and puffy white clouds shimmered over his glasses as he stared up at the sky. Since no one else had moved to help Spirit, I picked up his jacket and walked over to him. Muttering a hasty thanks for his jacket, he lurched to his feet and took off after Maka.

"Will he...?"

"Don't worry, he'll be fine. Since the game is over, how about I show you where my house is? It's hard to miss, so you should be able to find it once I show you the way. Even better, the route to school is a straight shot. Only one road to remember." Happy that he had remembered my horrible navigation skills, I laughed and linked my arm through his.

"Then lead to way, Franken Stein" He chuckled and tugged me down the street. Overjoyed that he didn't shrug my arm away, I barely paid any attention to the city around me. His hand felt warm against my skin and I fought to keep my racing heart under glanced sideways at me and I nearly blushed! Damn it, he could probably feel my erratic heartbeat even through my skin!

"Marie..."

"Oh! Is that your house?", I interrupted, desperate to dissipate all the awkwardness now hanging around us. He tore his eyes away from my face and shot a look at the house I was pointing to. It was a light grey, the same color as Stein's hair and thick black stitches crisscrossed the entire structure. He laughed.

"What gave it away?" I pulled my arm away and laughed.

"The real question is, what didn't? Oh, you're so predictable sometimes Stein! I missed you and your crazy shenanigans so much while I was in Oceania. You always make every day...interesting, for lack of a better word" He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, what can I say? People do crazy things when they're in love" Wait, what? did he just say...love? Stein had actually had a crush on someone in school? When had that happened? How had I missed it? He crinkled his eyebrows and I realized with a jolt that I had been staring at him. Ignoring the shards of my heart painfully bleeding away deep in my chest, I smiled.

"In love? You had a crush on someone? Who was it? C'mon, tell me!" Something flickered across his face for a moment then his eyes cleared and he chuckled again.

"You really didn't know? Then I guess it doesn't matter." He turned to walk away, but I grabbed the hem of his lab coat and hauled him back before he took one step. His eyes widened as I fixed a stern glare on his face.

"No, don't you dare walk away. I refuse to let you mention something like that and just walk away like it's nothing. Tell. Me. Now." Blush dusting the bridge of his nose, he stared at me.

"It was you, okay? I love you. And don't use the past tense, alright? I still love you. Will you...will you be my girlfriend?"

My heart thudded to a stop.

"M...me?", I said in a tiny voice. He nodded, studying my reaction as carefully as any of his delicate experiments. My heart started to beat again, pounding into overdrive as laughter bubbled up out of my throat.

"Why are you laughing? Are my feelings really that amusing to you?" Heavy pain was laced through his voice and I quickly stopped laughing.

"Stein...I'm not laughing at you. You just looked so funny and I've always..." He relaxed and pulled me close.

"So, is that a yes?", he interrupted. I nodded and leaned in close to him.

"I'm already going to be living with you, I might as well be your girlfriend too" He laughed and leaned in, gently pressing his lips against mine. My heart melted into a puddle of goo somewhere near the bottom of my ribcage as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. Wow...this was...everything I had wished for and dreamed of for so long...

A minute or so later I pulled back, my heart unable to withstand anymore. "Wow", he breathed. I pushed his glasses back onto his nose for him, his light blush returning in full force.

"So, do you want to hear something funny?", I asked brightly. Confusion spread across his face as he nodded yes.

"I always had a crush on you too!"

His eyes rapidly widened to the size of Bunsen burners and his mouth fell open. He looked so shocked that I couldn't control myself. Laughter tore its way out of my throat again. the sun looked down and laughed along with me, blood dripping from between its teeth like always. Stein recovered from the shock and calmly pushed his glasses up again.

"So, I guess you don't need to go apartment hunting tomorrow after school, huh?" I looked up at him, easily spotting the amusement dancing in his eyes. I smiled happily.

"I guess not"

Author's Note: Happy anniversary Stein! I hope you liked it : ) I finally got the guts to write what happened that day from my perspective. Of course I changed some stuff and added other crap to make it make sense in the Soul Eater universe but meh, you know how true-to-canon I like to be. XD


End file.
